A WALK IN THE WOODS
by Embersglow
Summary: The gang is lead out of Jump city into the wilderness of a nearby nature reserve by none other than Red X. Catasrophe strikes quite literally in a storm seriously injuring Raven. X finds her, and his conscience won't let him leave.
1. Chapter 1

A/N Hey all you guys and gals out there in computer land! This is the first story I've actually posted, if by far not the first I've written. As tacky as it sounds, it came to me in a dream, so it was origonally intended to be a one-shot. However, it is riddiculously too long to post all at once, so I split it into a few chapters. Hope you have some fun reading it!

A Walk in the Woods

The sun was soon going to set over the picturesque natural forest reserve about an hour by car outside of Jump City. Well, an hour obeying the speed limit, more like 20 minutes or so the way Cyborg drives and 15 the way Robin rides, and actually the sun could have been tap dancing for all anyone on the ground knew. The sky was thickly blanketed by dark grey almost purpley greenish clouds which were weeping profusely and showed no sign of stopping any time soon. The T Car and Robin's motorcycle could be seen in the parking lot. Beast Boy could be found in the middle of the old wood deciduous forest blending in rather well as a squirrel (except for the whole 'green' issue) who just happened to leap onto the shoulders of a young man dressed almost completely in black and who was moving rather fast. The squirrel suddenly turned into a large cougar, but the figure in black was a step ahead of BB and swung under a low branch, neatly sweeping him off his back. Sadly for this figure though, he had swung directly into the very hard titanium chest of Cyborg, but he recovered quickly and vaulted over his head using the tall blue shoulder for leverage. Starfire rounded on him now, sending out bolts of pure green power raining down upon the ground just like the clouds and their watery tears. These he countered with a few quipy comments and sharp throwing stars with only four prongs. He next faced what he considered the grand finale, although he hadn't though he'd had finished with the opening acts. But that was okay, he was flexible, as he now demonstrated by kicking the taller Cyborg in the head (they all converged on him). Robin was always his favorite to fight, or really to play will as a cat plays with a mouse in his opinion. Red X smiled maliciously, said something meant to infuriate his opponent and started to have some fun.

The missing act X noticed was actually flying through the pouring rain above the trees. Raven did not expect the Titans to win hand to hand with the notorious Red X, especially in the rain, especially out of their element, all of them being more comfortable in a city setting. She had tried to explain this to Robin on the way. They had to actually think when it came to X; they could not just rely on brute force. She had a few ideas, but no real gift for strategy, she needed her friend's amazing talent, but Robin was too emotionally involved with this villain and would not or could not see the light in order to help her. Still, Raven rammed her plan of ambushing the criminal when he returned to the city down Robin's stubborn little throat and left to take her post, letting the others beat some aggression out. So she was flying alone along the only path she logically thought Red X could take back to town via the forest: following the power lines. She wasn't even sure Robin had heard enough of what she told him so many times to know where she was. But that was all right, Raven considered herself a big girl who could take care of herself, and she always had her communicator, or could just phase back to the group. Raven felt like she _had_ to catch him this time. She had to make up for all of her potential evil, it bled more and more into everything she did recently. She did not see Red X as truly evil, but then she had a skewed view, and needed something morally solid to hang onto at the moment. So she just decided to accept Robin's verdict at face value just this once. This absolute determination overtook her mind; she would rein him in if it killed her this time.

Lightning flashed alarmingly close by. As the thunder pealed, Raven started to wonder if she'd been a bit reckless. Lightning flashed again, and again, and suddenly there was only light, pure white, excruciating, blinding light that seemed to surge through her eyes and through her soul, and then the light turned to darkness.

To a distant observer, the slender girl looked like a wasp that had been sprayed with industrial strength Raid. She plummeted through the trees to bounce horribly to a stop on a large chunk of granite placed there just for this specific purpose, during this specific second, thousands of years ago by a glacier. She finally landed unconscious on her stomach, her right arm twisted beneath her.

Red X was teleporting back to the city. He was indeed following the power lines and traveling in spurts, hopping hilltops so to say, it was easier and conserved zinothium. He stopped nearby Raven's resting place, still chuckling after leading Robin around in merry chase for a few hours. He caught sight of her fallen form, and warily approached, taking advantage of the opportunity to gloat and have a little more fun at others' expense.

"Wasting time on the job are we? Tut tut tut, big mean leader man back there shall not be pleased." He approached further when she did not respond. "Not even going to try? Yeah, I always thought you were the smartest, the first to realize that I'm just better than all of you."

Still no response, something was seriously wrong with this picture, she hadn't given any sign of even being aware that he existed, or of being alive for that matter. He raised his voice.

"Hey! You, move or be buzzard food." X frowned under his death mask in perplexion standing there oblivious to the pouring rain and how it effectively washed away his good mood. Then he noticed that she was breathing in sharp irregular gasps and was shivering almost indiscernibly. He swore and easily jumped up onto the boulder. Her cloak, draped over her like a blanket, was dark with the rain to begin with, but a wide generally circular patch in the center of her back was nearly black. He flung it away in revulsion to reveal an open, freely bleeding hole in her back just above her belt. Her leotard in the area was in charred tatters, he swore once again and felt the first icy fingers of panic when he took her pulse.

Red X had to be back in the city by midnight to pass off the envelope he carried hidden in his uniform or he was as good as cat meat, and now he had a dying chick on his hands in the middle of the freakin' wilderness! But what happened? He quickly conducted a more thorough inspection and began to wrap his mind around the situation. "Okay" he said to himself "shivering, erratic breathing," he peeled back an eyelid, causing her it jolt a bit and come back to consciousness. "have to...find...hurry..." she mumbled deliriously.

"...dilated eyes, loss of consciousness, incoherency. Right then, shock, probably from blood loss. Assorted bruising and laceration, probably result of impact." Raven shifted her head a bit; he saw a large bloody lump on her right temple. "Ohho concussion! and looks to be a good one. No nonono, stay awake, or you might not wake up again." He took hold of her pointed little chin and gave it a good shake, her eyes opened again. "Damn, what's your name? Raja...Raptor...Rabbit...Raven! That's it. Hey, Raven, talk to me" He had tried to speak to her gently, but winced at the harsh effect of his voice modulator. With one annoyed movement he hooked a finger under his mask and disabled the small device. A very concerned sounding baritone cast around "uh, tell me about you day" he was astounded by his own lack of originality.

"have to go...find him...Robin needs...find him...back to...head him off...have to go..."

Red X whistled at this, she was just hell-bent on locking him away. As she continued to babble feebly, he quickly took in the scorching around her warped slightly melted belt and wound. He also found open sores on the soles of her feet through the burned out bottoms of her boots and a bloody spot on the crown of her head. Also, her right arm was crushed beneath her and probably broken. All of these pieces fell into place with an almost audible click.

"The little fool forgot we're in the mountains, higher up into the storm." He said this as though it was a great and profound discovery, then shook his head at his own folly, in retrospect a blind monkey could have figured that out. A distant crash of thunder seemed to confirm all of this. "Almost serves her right for wearing a metal belt in the middle of a lightning storm. Hey hey, got to keep talking, just stay with me until you're not my problem anymore." She resumed mumbling upon his insistence. X fumbled over her person to find her communicator attached to that dratted belt under her hip. "Damn. How the $#& do you work this thing? It doesn't have any buttons or anything." He managed to extend the antenna and, after smacking it against the rock a few times, the screen came alive. But it would reveal nothing but static and the fact that it was cracked. Red X cursed a bit more creatively.

"What to do, what to do" for starters, he ripped off a strip of Raven's cloak and tied up her broken arm and wrapped the rest tightly around her body over the strike sight. Genius then struck. "Right, I'll just port her back to where I saw them last, drop the chick and get the &$# over to Willy's." He carefully gathered her up, noting in passing how small and fragile she really seemed to be, and shifted until he had a hand free to press the button on his belt, concentrating on the clearing miles away. He disappeared, Raven's form thumped to the ground. X reappeared with a loud and long string of oaths. Of course, the suit only teleported its contents. "Right, now what." he looked at the time, "Sh#, only three hours, already cutting it close."

'You know,' said a little voice in his head, 'you could just leave her, she is fuzz after all.' 'What, go find the rest and bring 'em back here? Good plan except I've _no idea where this is remember?' _The little voice dropped its forehead into its palm, or the metaphysical parallel. 'No' it explained as if to a small child and not a very intelligent and crafty eighteen year old, 'you leave, and go meet Willy on time and then get on with your life.' 'No! I can't just leave someone to die! Besides, this one's too much fun to torment.' 'Sigh, suite yourself, but don't blame me when you're being slowly boiled in hot oil and the one that caused it is right outside ready to slap the cuffs on.' and the voice was gone. 'Not to mention that you think she's attractive' 'hey, I thought you 'were gone''


	2. Chapter 2

A/N Hey everybody, thanks to all who reviewed. Rereading this now (I wrote it a long time ago), I don't particularly think its good anymore, butI started posting it, so I'll finish. Enjoy chapter 2!

Recap:

_'You know,' said a little voice in his head, 'you could just leave her, she is fuzz after all.' 'What, go find the rest and bring 'em back here? Good plan except _I've no idea where this is remember?_' The little voice dropped its forehead into its palm, or the metaphysical parallel. 'No' it explained as if to a small child and not a very intelligent and crafty eighteen year old, 'you leave, and go meet Willy on time and then get on with your life.' 'No! I can't just leave someone to die! Besides, this one's too much fun to torment.' 'Sigh, suite yourself, but don't blame me when you're being slowly boiled in hot oil and the one that caused it is right outside ready to slap the cuffs on.' and the voice was gone. 'Not to mention that you think she's attractive' 'hey, I thought you 'were gone''_

Walk in the Woods 2

"Okay" he said out loud this time, shaking it off, "plan B. I hope you trust me." He carefully slung her over his shoulder face down as to place as little stress as possible on her back. The man in black was too disconcerted with his extremely sensitive awareness as to exactly where they touched to notice that she almost inaudibly murmured "I do" in response. He began running as fast as he could back to the clearing. Unfortunately, that was not very fast in the forest, especially for a city boy, and especially not in a straight line. Red X's cursing increased steadily every time he stumbled or jolted Raven or had to detour around briar patches and gullies to the point of constancy when he finally admitted that he had no idea where he was going. Raven had long since fallen unconscious again and her cloak long since soaked through with blood more than rain.

Finally, he stopped; he thought he heard running water nearby over the lessening pattern of the drizzle on the trees. He made for that sound, more just to have a destination than anything else. They reached a small clear stream. Red X sank down on a stone gratefully for a moment, setting his burden down. She wasn't heavy at all, but he had been running and fighting etc. all pretty much all day. He pulled back his hood and ran his fingers through his hair; a nervous habit seriously hindered by a specific costume flaw. There was no one to see him out here anyway. The water tasted clear enough, so he decided he wasn't going to keel over, and submerged his whole head for a second, and sprayed Raven as he swung back up and shook the excess water off; they were both soaked anyway. As an afterthought, he brought her closer to the water's edge and spritzed her face with droplets from his fingertips. After a few moments, he was about to give up, she was struck by lightning after all. But her eyes finally did flutter open, still dazed and dilated. X smiled down at her, "It lives" no response. "Here drink something" he propped her up against him and brought a large hand full of water to her mouth, which he basically poured down her throat. She blinked a few times and seemed to revive a bit after a few handfuls.

"So this is quite a fix we find ourselves in isn't it?" He checked her back, it was still bleeding sluggishly. "Such a small person, you can't have much left. I don't think I've even bled this much before, and I've been hurt pretty badly." Raven just continued to silently observe him, it was kind of unnerving. Uncomfortably, he just kept talking. "Well, you've effectively screwed over my current transaction, that should make you happy." he said ruefully checking the time; there was no way he'd make it on time. "I'll talk Willy around though, so you won't be rid of me that easily. The black market alone needs me too much, and my higher paying customers need me more." She continued to stare at him intensely. He met her gaze before looking away after a terrible second; she seemed to see directly into his soul.

"Christ, no wonder the green one talks so much, silence around you is unbearable." He fidgeted and ran a hand through his wet hair again and froze once it reached the back of his head. He cursed abruptly and jerked on his masked hood. Her eyes at once opened wide encasing a seed of panic. "Fine, fine, it's too late now anyway." He took it back off and she relaxed again. "But I'll need to wear it when we reach your team mates." He cleared his throat awkwardly. "So, the way I see it" trying to focus on the problem at hand and finding it very difficult. "You're our only way back there, cuz, I hate to break it to ya kid, but I have no idea where we are." A wry smile slid across his face. "I can't teleport any more than myself, but I know you can, I've seen you. I know how weak you must be, but if you can just get us to that clearing by the cave where you all followed me to, I think I can find your friends and they can get you to a hospital... okay blink twice if you actually retained any of that." Raven closed her eyes and furrowed her brows. She drew a long quivering breath and let it go opening her eyes again. They flashed white and a sweeping sheet of darkness swirled around to cover the two of them.

This was a _very_ different sensation for Red X. He seemed to feel wind pulling at him, pushing at him and twining around him from every direction at once. A silence so loud it physically hurt him filled his ears and mind, he saw only intense darkness whether his eyes were open or not. The only solid sensation he could latch onto was Raven's form in his hold. Impulsively, he pulled her tightly closer to him in his irrational fear. It could have been a millisecond or a millennium later for all X could tell when there was sort of a bump, like airplane turbulence. Raven's muscles hardened for a second and then turned slack.

"The mask doesn't do you justice." was breathed in his ear before her form fell completely limp as a rag doll in his arms. The next thing X knew was the unpleasant drop in his gut as trees appeared around him and they transitioned into freefall. Thanking the gods for his reflexes, X landed like a cat, only stumbling forward a step to compensate for Raven. "What a strong fledging to get so far" he murmured, then shook his head "Where the && did that come from?" He glanced around and glimpsed the green of grass about twenty yards away and made for it, yes, this was the clearing. Warily, he stepped beyond the tree line, first pulling on his mask. It was deserted. "Assorted profanities". He set Raven down tenderly, and caught himself as he straightened, let out a manly cough "Well" turned on his heel, rubbed the side of his nose with a fist and crossed his arms in front of him, carefully pushing certain thoughts to the southern most recesses of his mind. "God I gotta get out of here," he grumbled in response to his own stupidity, as he saw it anyway.

There was a strange thing in the center of the clearing that made him both smile at his good fortune and die a little inside at Robin's ...Robiness. It was a small pile of stones with an antenna sticking out of the top of it and four arrows formed of sticks strategically placed around it pointing in the cardinal directions. One was marked with a small pile of screws, one with a broken piece of pinkish rose quarts, one a paw print in a bit of exposed soil and the last with a bird-a-rang. 'Subtle'. A few delightful little prankish ideas, most involving the rearrangement of the design one way or another bounced happily through the criminal's mind as he knocked away a few stones and pulled out some sort of small transmitter. Obviously, the four remaining Titans had split up to search for he and/or Raven (depending on earlier made plans) and were using the transmitter signal as a base point. The arrows allowed them to more easily locate each other if need arose. Red X sat on the ground next to Raven, leaning against a large stone near the entrance to the cave and began flipping the switch on and off for a while. He looked at her as he flicked it (he didn't seem to notice how often he'd been doing that recently), and pondered her last comment; he was not sure how he should take it. He was quite sure how he _wanted_ to take it, and that scared him more than all the boogiemen and prison cells on earth. There really wasn't time left, if someone didn't arrive soon, he didn't know what he could do.

Robin's communicator went off suddenly, making him jump and almost fall out of the tree from which he was looking over top of the forest canopy.

"What did you find!" he peered into the very serious face of Cyborg.

"Nothing man, I thought you did and maybe your communicator was broken."

Robin's face fell, he was a twig snap away from utter panic about Raven and even closer to full out homicidal tendency about his nemesis.

"What made you think that?" he snapped, but before Cyborg could answer the screen split in two and then quickly three.

"Dude! did you find em?" and "Have you located our misplaced comrade, friend Robin?" sounded at the same moment.

"The transmitter we left back there is goin' crazy man, I thought you were calling us back" Cyborg explained to his perplexed face. Robin ignored the other two for a moment and checked, yes, the signal was flickering on and off like a strobe light. A little frustrated at having to let down all of his friends he waspishly asked "Why did you all automatically assume it was me and not one of you?" They all seemed to share a look on the screen, Starfire answered for them: "Because you are Robin". He sighed irritatedly, "Just everybody get back to the clearing as fast as you can and we'll see what's going on." and shut it off.


	3. Chapter 3

A/N Hey! Another huge thank you to all who reviewed, I love you all soooo much. I read through quotey sections of this chapter, and I think they're clear, if anyone is confused about anything please drop me a note. And who could resist loving Raven? The party girl that she is, certainly Red X couldn't, tee hee. But this is where I ended it when I just wrote this as a quite one shot thing, but if you guys think that I should continue it I'll try, any ideas are welcome cuz I'd just be making it up as I go whereas I usually have some plot outlined when I write stories. I hope you like it!

Oh yes, and I just sort of realized that I haven't been putting up the obligatory disclaimers, so I just do one big one here to make up for it:

I DON'T OWN ANYTHING, NOT EVEN MY SOUL!

There, that was fun…

Recap:

"The transmitter we left back there is goin' crazy man, I thought you were calling us back" Cyborg explained to his perplexed face. Robin ignored the other two for a moment and checked, yes, the signal was flickering on and off like a strobe light. A little frustrated at having to let down all of his friends he waspishly asked "Why did you all automatically assume it was me and not one of you?" They all seemed to share a look on the screen, Starfire answered for them: "Because you are Robin". He sighed irritatedly, "Just everybody get back to the clearing as fast as you can and we'll see what's going on." and shut it off.

Back at the clearing...

Red X was getting thoroughly tired of flipping the switch, and thoroughly worried that no one would come. He stared moodily at Raven, watching her grow paler and paler. Usually she was pretty white, grey really, but now we were talking _white_, paper, bone, snow, you could practically see through her skin. She was fading, but short of opening a vein of his own for her, or teleporting back to the city, hijacking a helicopter or a jet and coming back to get her, he was out of ideas. He could foresee certain health/hygienical problems with Plan A, and he really didn't have anything against Plan B, but he was worried she'd wake up alone, or the others would arrive and not understand what happened, or worse, a bear or a lion or something would smell all of the blood (city boy remember). His worst fear of all was that he would arrive back too late, and the poor girl would have died cold and alone in the dark. He didn't understand why, but he just knew he _had_ to save her, he couldn't just give up and leave. As he grew more and more desperate, he began to despair, and the hardened criminal surprised himself to find tears standing in his eyes and what might have been the first sob of his older-than-two life about to tear from his throat. A rustle in the trees across the clearing cut short any emotional outbursts however. His head snapped up in the direction of the noise, fists doubled up and legs raised him up automatically as eyes scanned the scene carefully. A falcon swooped out and came to a stop on the ground in the familiar shape of X's small green opponent.

"What? Red X? Raven?" he rushed to he side, "What did you do to her!" was the first frantic thing out of his mouth.

"Hey, I didn't do anything! except save her life, that is, if she survives." He raised his spread hands to indicate his innocence.

"Robin? Why are you dressed as Red X again? What happened to Raven?"

Red X was confused, "Robin? You think I'm that poncey idiot? No! I'm much tougher and better looking than him!" X considered himself righteously offended.

"Fine then" Beast Boy was skeptical, "If you really are Red X why isn't your voice all computerizied and stuff huh? X would never make such a stupid slip up. Now what happened to Rea? We've got to help her; I thought you said you didn't find her?"

Red X winced and cursed once again, reaching inside the neck of his suit and reactivated the voice modulator, this just wasn't his day.

"It's been a long day, and even I'm not perfect, but I come pretty damn close." he drawled with traditional 'Red X attitude'.

"Ahhhh! you really aren't Robin!" Beast Boy scrambled away and turned into a tiger. Red X rolled his eyes.

"Save it, if I wanted to attack you would already be in a hotdog casing. I'm just trying to help Raven." He stole a glance at her face, and hoped it did not seem too affectionately.

BB turned back to human (-ish) "You promise?" he asked sternly. Red X sighed, "Scouts honor" complete with what he thought looked like the proper hand motion. "I'll even stick around to let you guys arrest me again, I could use the jail time to figure out how to get Willy off my back. As if I could go anywhere anyway, porter's broken" tapping his belt.

"Whatever, now what happened to Rea?"

"I'll tell you everything when everyone gets here, I assume they're coming?" He received a confirming nod. "Nut shell version: struck by lightning." He took his cape off and tossed it to him "put some pressure on the wound with this." If he couldn't stay near, at least something of his would. Beast Boy wadded it up and pressed it to her lower back. "Where are you going?" Red X was swinging himself up into a tree and climbed a few feet. "Just in case someone else is more observant and trigger happy than you. I don't feel like getting attacked before I can explain myself."

Starfire came flying in next. "Beast Boy! Oh what has happened? Where did you locate friend Raven?"

"I didn't-"

"Then who-"

"Hey cutie" from his perch with an ironic salute, the words tasted stale. She gasped and squeaked "You!" X gasped himself, mockingly waving his hands. "Yes me, now simmer down, I would have attacked already if I was going to. You people just aren't really bright are you?" he observed obnoxiously as she relaxed her fighting stance.

"Star! Geddown!" Cyborg leveled his cannon at X.

"Relax guys, he says he saved Raven after she got struck by lightning (there was assorted gasping among the audience) and anyway, he's stuck here, the belt is broken."

"You! Explain! NOW!" Cyborg powered down his arm, but remained obviously suspicious.

"Easy big boy, I will as soon as macho leader man gets here."

"How are we sure that the Red X is not lying and waiting for Robin as part of a snare?"

"We could take him Star, and he saved Raven so we have to trust him for now. Anyway, his belt is broken, probably out of zena-whatever."

"How do you know?"

"He climbed up that tree by hand, he wouldn't have bothered if he could just zap there right?"

X let them argue, where was that dratted kid? There wasn't much time. He thought he heard something through his distraction, and felt watched. He half turned to look around when pinned roughly against the tree trunk by the said 'dratted kid' i.e. 'macho leader man' i.e. Robin. "What did you do to my Raven?" he hissed venomously in X's ear growling with intensity and desperate emotion.

"First off, she's not yours, secondly, nothing. If you get off me I'll tell you what happened and you can get her to a hospital." he snapped in response, angry with himself. No matter what the situation, there was no excuse for letting _him_ of all people surprise him. Robin slammed him painfully against the tree and let him go, easily jumping down and landing in a fighter's crouch. X was careful to be more graceful and casual than Robin.

"Okay, I was porting back to the city following the power lines and saw her lying face down on a boulder and-"

"Wh-" from Starfire. Red X, Robin, and Cyborg all answered at once, "It conserves fuel to bunny hop"

"and I stopped to chat, but she was in a sorry state. I figured out she was flying too high in the storm, was struck because of the conductive metal belt she was wearing and fell, hit a chunk of granite and got a concussion, breaking her arm in the process. Her communicator broke as well and I couldn't teleport her-"

"Why-" This time it was BB.

"Only works for what's inside the suit" the three answered curtly.

"her so I tried to bring her back here on foot, but I got lost" his scathing look dared any of them to comment even through the mask. "She was able to get us pretty much the rest of the way when I got her to wake up, but she's absolutely at the end of her strength. I'm surprised she's made it this far."

Cyborg was investigating her exact physical condition with Star and Beast Boy looking on in concern. Robin's eyes never left X.

"How long ago was this?" he asked.

"I found her about four hours ago, judging by her blood loss I'd say she was struck about a half hour to an hour before that."

"She needs the ER about five hours ago then Rob" reported Cyborg.

"Star, fly her back to the car, BB you take Cyborg to drive, get her to the hospital as fast as humanly possible or faster!" They kind of looked at him for a second. "I'd slow you down, can't fly remember? Go! I'll catch up." Robin got out a set of cuffs as he spoke.

"Well, if you insist." said Red X twiddling his fingers in Robin's direction, but eyes lingering on Raven as he pressed his belt and disappeared.

"Hey! but he said it was broken!"

"I lied, thieves tend to do that." X had only blinked back into the tree, and with a cruel laugh he was gone for real this time.

Star, BB, and Cy took off at once with Raven. Robin and stayed very still, eyes locked on the darkness just inside the cave X had used as a drop point for loot.

"Why did you do it? Why did you save her life? You didn't have to."

"You don't leave people to die when you can help them." X's real voice echoed out of the cave.

"Thank you. I guess you really aren't such a bad guy."

"I'd hug you but somehow I don't really want to."

Robin smirked "Next time you do something illegal though, I'll be waiting, and Raven with me."

"I'll look forward to it, or at least the Raven part." He just threw that last bit in to gauge Robin's reaction after that 'my' comment. There was a pause.

"You hurt her and I'll tear you limb from limb, she's dealing with enough."

Red X gave a ringing laugh, "If I hurt her she will be the one doing the tearing, molecule from molecule, with her teeth, and several dull rusty blades." There was another pause.

"I have no intention to, you just keep her alive and safe." softly and seriously.

Robin nodded solemnly, and after a moment turned and jogged off into the trees.


	4. Chapter 4

A walk in the woods Chapter 4

Disclaimer: No ownage here

A/N Thank you all reviews! You have no idea how happy things like that make me. Green Gallent, I'll send you a few Xy stories I've liked, first one that comes to mind is sort of old and completed called Too Much Red, another is being written now by AegisX called Dual Xs, its a bit different than the standard Red/Rea, but its fun. At some chapter in the future when I have time I'll respond to everyone, I promise.

And just a warning, I had a lot of trouble starting this chapter, the end of the last chapter was where I ended it originally as a one shot, so when I saw a hat that reminded me of the homeless guy I used to talk to outside my mom's work, I just kind of went with it for lack of any other starting point. Just sort of felt the need to explain that. Hope this isn't too weird for everyone, as the new plot gets going I'll get better. His name was Leonard, he used to tell me jokes until my mom scolded for talking to strangers, and he was really nothing like the bum described below. I wonder whatever happened to him…

Story time!

A Walk in the Woods 4

After about 15 minutes of holding the bottle upended over his drooping mouth, the old man huddled under the pier sighed. He tossed the empty bottle with its paper bag wrapping away, aiming lazily at a gull. The grizzled bum began to rummage around in his heap of rags and carefully selected rubbish. It was late, early even, but then, the man hadn't really slept in years, let alone through the night. He just swam contentedly through the haze that was his consciousness, surfacing unpleasantly sometimes when the lapse between bottles was too long. He was starting to float back towards the real world now, so he pulled out his coffee can; it was time to start begging again, before all of the fairies left. They appeared and disappeared as they pleased, keeping him company sometimes, being cruel at others, or ignoring him completely as often as not. His thin lips pealed back in a grin and a hoarse guttural sound that may have once been construed as a bark of joyous laughter issued from his throat. The fairy King was suddenly there, twenty or so yards away. The King was about six feet tall, and dressed all in black with a regal cape. He ghosted around silently, never staying long and never bothering with the bum. He conversed on with his subjects, and sometimes with the men that worked out of the boat shed nearby. The old man loved it when the King came around; it always meant such lovely, and entertaining dreams.

Red X landed finally at the dock where he'd planned to rendezvous with Willy four and a half hours earlier. He ignored the gleeful gurgling he heard from behind him, as always. No matter where or when he teleported around there that god forsaken cur always announced his arrival. One of these days not killing him was going to get him killed. X started to take a look around, keeping to the shrinking shadows. The sun was rising, 'Willy's gonna be mad at me' he sing-songed under his breath. After a hasty survey of the area, he turned with a hand on his belt "Oh well, guess he already left, lucky me". The thief was about to bounce on back to his apartment and finally end this day that felt weeks long, then sighed.

"Oh I think not my friend, lucky _me_." The deep voice was mocking, with a hint of Irish heritage all but lost to Americanization. Red X turned and gave his employer a rakish salute, no rest for the wicked it seemed.

"Willy! Fancy meeting you here, you like to watch the sun rise too? I never would of thought." He drawled.

Willy was tall, bearded and broad. Perhaps in his mid-forties he had the look of a retire Navy man, complete with rugged black pea coat and knit skullcap, and of course hardened muscular arms and shoulders. For all X knew he _could_ have been in the Navy, not that he really cared all that much.

"Always the clever one." Willy clapped him on the shoulder like a comrade; anyone else would have winced at the blow. "Lets step into my office, shall we? I believe we've some ah, business to discuss…now."

The tired thief didn't miss the half dozen or so burley looking shadows strategically placed about, and decided to comply with the insistent fist pulling his arm towards the run down boat shed. Nor did he miss the worn brass knuckles Willy quietly slipped onto his free hand. 'This has been _such_ a long day.'

The waiting room at the ER was absolutely packed, as was to be expected. The cramped quarters felt even smaller due to the very large, very agitated bionic man pacing up and down the aisles. Starfire and Beast Boy sat together on an orange plastic kiddie bench wedged in a corner, trying to edge away from the freely bleeding construction worker next to them.

"Aw man! I can't take this waiting; I mean we never get hurt like this! Not for real, never anything that could…" Cyborg was beside himself, obviously flashing back to past times in this same room waiting to hear about other loved ones, and being rushed through himself. The others were not much calmer, pale faced and quiet (a real indication of a serious situation in BB's case). By definition they were all not happy campers. A door swished open and their fearless leader walked in, looking grim. Instantly, the three rushed over, nearly toppling coughing elderly woman and her husband in the process.

"I explained everything to the doctor about what happened and her, medical peculiarities." He began.

" So what'd he say? Rea's gonna be all right, right?" Beast Boy's face was pleading.

"Yes, when will friend Raven be well again?"

Robin looked down at his hands, unable to meet Starfire's eyes. "He said there wasn't much they could do, her immune system is too foreign. They don't want to risk too much because she's so weak. If she were anyone else, they said they'd be giving her a transfusion immediately because she's lost so much blood. The doctor's will do what they can, but we've just got to wait, see if Raven can save herself."

The group staked out a corner as theirs and just sat, sick with worry for their friend. After a moment, Cyborg's fist slammed into the wall "Damn that Red X! I'll tear him apart if she's not okay."

"Cyborg" Starfire placed a soothing hand on his arm, "The Red X deserves our gratitude. He is the one who rescued our friend."

"Raven was chasing _him_ out in that storm, when it happened, it's his fault." The big man's voice trembled.

"But-" Robin silenced her with a touch of her shoulder. "He needs someone to hate right now, to blame and take his frustration out on. By all rights it should be me, it was my fault. I-"

"Dude, not everything's about you. Don't get all guilt trippy and beg for pity and attention. Just stop it."

Robin didn't respond, just looked hard at his little green team mate for a moment and took back his seat with his knees drawn up to his chest on a plastic end table wedged against the wall.

A long succession of invalids filtered in and out as the hours crawled by. A nurse stopped by several times to let them know that there was no point in staying, the hospital would call if anything changed, but they refused to budge. Finally she just let them know that the cafeteria was open down the hall and left to see to her other duties. At about lunchtime, Beast Boy and Starfire had been asleep for an hour, and even Robin had started to dose off. Cyborg woke them all gently.

"Come on, we've been up since seven yesterday. We'll come back after a catnap. They'll call if anything happens."

On the way home then trudged into their usual Dunkin Donuts out of sheer habit. No one wanted to be there, and it showed, but the familiarity was a comfort. The sound of glass shattering and a security alarm reached them as they picked at pastries. There was a jeweler's shop across the street.

"I am so not in the mood for this." Beast Boy voiced what they were all thinking. The dispirited group hastened away to reprehend the masked criminals.

The Titans crashed at the big T for a couple of hours. No one had bothered going upstairs to their individual bedrooms, but just flopped together on the big couch with some mindless TV on in the background. Robin came back to life around six in the evening. He heaved himself up, shoving aside Beast Boy who'd somehow managed to sprawled across Robin's lap, and pulled out a few containers of old Chinese food to heat up before they headed back to the hospital. What Beast Boy said earlier about him guilt tripping to get attention was still troubling him. He didn't really do that did he? He felt guilty for things that he saw as his fault, and he told people to be responsible and take the blame he deserved. Was that begging for attention? Raven was hurt because of him, he pressured everyone to catch Red X or die trying, it was the number one priority. Robin was the one who created X in the first place, the guy had helped them out once, but he'd also gotten away from the Titans more than any other criminal. He continued mulling things over while he scraped the top fuzzy layer off some lo mien, well, he thought it might have been lo mien. The phone rang, waking the others. They all lunged. Robin got to it first.

"Hello? Is she okay?" The woman on the other end of the line wasn't one of the doctor's Robin had spoken to earlier, and she sounded somewhat shaken. "Everything is still unchanged as far as we can tell, she's no worse. I have some questions about the patient's medical history though."

"As far as I know Raven's never been hospitalized before. She was pretty badly hurt a year or so ago, but then she healed herself. I told the other doctor about her abilities."

"Yes, well, we gave her a mild stimulant to try stabilize her pulse and she's exhibiting some odd reactions."

"What happened?" Robin's voice went up a decibel. "I thought you just said she was no worse?"

"Raven started to um, float ten minutes after we administer the stimulant. Has she-"

Robin stopped listening. Yes! She's strong enough to start self-healing! "Thanks, we'll be right over." He hung up the phone. "Guys, lets go, Ravens floating!" The four teens dashed to the T-car and were speeding down the road in milliseconds. A slug of blue furry noodles started to crawl across the counter.

Under the pier, the resident hobo was deep in thought as he be baited his primitive seagull traps with a few bits of only slightly rotten fish head he found. He preferred to get his nutrition in liquid form, but every once in a while some poultry was a nice change, plus he liked the buzz he got from poaching. He was pondering a mystery that had been eluding him for some time: what was his name? The old man couldn't seem to remember even now between bottles, when he usually did his best thinking, when shiny objects didn't distract him. It was on the tip of his tongue, started with an L…what was that? There it was again, a pitiful rumbly sort of sound coming from nearby. Intrigued, the man ambled in the sound's general direction to investigate. Now what was he pondering again? Thoughts occupied anew, he tripped over a large black lump half buried in the sand at the base of a bulkhead. It moaned louder this time. Hah! That was it! I was looking for what made the noise! No, what was I thinking about before I heard the sound? The lump stirred and put a hand to its apparent head. It started to sit up, but cried out and clutched its side falling back down. L watched in sympathy, this was pain, pain he recognized. He shuffled over to his pile of possessions and returned with a parcel, his most recent acquisition. The lump, now apparently a man dressed in black was more carefully sitting up now, propping himself against the bulkhead.

L uncapped the new bottle and couldn't resist taking the first swig himself, smiling as the liquid gold feeling washed over him already. He crouched down and held out his prize "Here you go lad, some shine is what you need, this'll put you to rights again."

Red X had been concentrating on making his vision stop swimming, and how he was going to exact revenge on his attackers. He was good, but there were seven of them, one of him and he was not in prime fighting condition to begin with. Not many are that good. Damn, it looked like he had a few broken ribs; X mumbled something about keelhauling and immigrants who think they're better than they ought. Suddenly, the thief realized he wasn't alone. It was that bum, he was crouching next to him offering a bottle of something that by the smell was at least five proof. "Why the hell not" X took the bottle and started coughing after just a sip, by god what _was_ this stuff? "Thanks."

The bum laughed his hoarse, ill sounding laugh "Looks like you've had a rough day. My name's Leonard" He extended his hand to shake, but then clapped it over his mouth. That was it! "Leonard! My name's Leonard, that's it!" He stood up and danced a little shuffling jig of joy, giggling.

X's mouth sort of hung open as he watched the display, the words just wouldn't come. He took a bigger gulp of what was probably whiskey and shakily stood and discovered a long shallow gash on his thigh. S&t, that's going to need stitches. "Well, um, Leonard, thanks for the pick me up and for waking me. I'm gonna go now, you just, just take it easy. See you later." He put the bottle down on the sand and pressed his belt.

Leonard grinned even wider. He'd just befriended the King! Oh, this was a good day.

A/N See? Told you it was weird...


	5. Chapter 5

A/N Greetings all! I have been struck with genius in that I actually now have a sembalance of a planned story line dance with me in joy! But yes, now that I have a smigeon of direction the chapter should be a bit more comprehensible and hopefully enjoyable. As always, I would bake something yummy for each and every reviewer if I could, but I can't so responding is the least I can do.

Aegis X: Remembering addresses can be very difficult for some people I'm sure. My friends are at least as weird, I had to drive 40 minutes yesterday to go console a hysterical Terri because her beta fish ate itself to death...I know, sad. Thanx for reading and putting up with last chapter, but don't waste you're time here until you write your next session!

Imp: Yes yes, writer's block does produce interesting results sometimes doesn't it? But stick with it! Hopefully I'll do better... only if you want to of course.

Absolute Madness: Tee hee hee, you're name is the quintessance of my life! I'm glad you like the story, and don't worry, Raven will get better, eventually...or will she?

noname00: Yes, gotta love lunatic old men, the real Leonard was funny too, but not in the same way by a long shot. He may pop up again, we'll see.

ELIE101: Yey! someone's getting into it! I'll up date as often as possible, I have next chapter half written now, so it shouldn't be long.

SpiderSquirrel: The meanings your name could have...I'm glad you like the story and I will update soon, promise! And sorry to stir up horrid memories of horrible books, I'd never heard that there was one sharing a title.

the Swashbuckler: Leo is interesting, and was a complete surprise to me, he may stick around as a minor character, we'll see. I love playing with characters, sticking them into stressful situations and seeing how they cope, so the hospital bit was kinda fun. I'm glad you liked it! Your stories are so good, this seems like sludge to me in comparison.l

Kie: I know it was kinda strange, but stuff like that makes life interesting. it should get better soon.

Smilie90000: Oh don't worry, I have plans now for this baby!

xOsilentdreamsOx: Arg, that chapter was sooo hard for me to get started...I feel your pain with incessant play songs, I'm in Wizard of Oz currently...I 'follow the yellow brick road' in my sleep. Yey for character interplay! thats my favorite part of writing...I'll update soon!

That always seems to take so long... but it was necessary...story time!

A Walk in the Woods 5

"Finally! I was going to start combing the river bottoms for your mangled body soon." A door slammed, and evil daggers of light stabbed at Red X's eyelids. He groaned, sleep was _so_ nice every once in a while.

"What do you want Demetry? I was working." He grumbled and sat up, wincing and cradling his ribs. He was in a pretty sorry state, but still felt worlds better than earlier that day.

"So now 'working' constitutes getting the snot beat out of you and bleeding all over the couch, _again_? Spill it, what happened?"

"You sound like a disgruntled housewife."

"What? Is it a crime to want to know if someone will be sending a hit man over here to pay a visit? You know, so we'll have the guest towels out." His voice was dry enough to chip paint. "What's the damage anyway? That is the worst bandage job I have ever seen by the way." He pointed to the rough bloodstained piece of fabric clumsily wrapped around the wound on X's leg.

"I wasn't exactly in a meticulous mood. X snapped, running his fingers through his hair. "I was late delivering that list of cargo numbers with the stolen artifacts. Willy and his boys shall we say, were not pleased." The thief shrugged and winced. "I gave as good as I got, problem was that my side was spread out over seven people, not quite as effective."

"Well, what hurts?" Demetry pulled out a sizable box of supplies and dragged over a chair. "I swear, I get more medical practice from you than work and school combined."

"Liar, you're premed and a freakin' EMT."

"My point exactly. What made you late man? The Titans or something."

X swallowed a chuckle "Sort of…" He then launched into an abbreviated, mostly accurate account of the night's activities while his friend helped him treat the various bruises and lacerations etc. His body was now rather colorful he noted. When he finished his roommate burst out laughing.

"You old softy." Demetry mocked, "Who'd have thought that under all the cursing and violence you actually have a conscience? and now you'll even have a dashing scar on your face to impress her with. Oh, and your going to have to go get your leg sewn back together soon if you don't want it to fester." The sizable job completed, he unceremoniously dumped everything back in the box and kicked it under the sink in the connected kitchen area of the small apartment.

"No. No way, hospitals and doctors ask questions. You know how, you do it." Red X grunted in pain trying to get his shirt back on without puncturing a lung.

"Do I know how to shove a needle into a bad cut? Yes, but I've never been formally trained. No, you are going to the hospital."

"Come on! You gave yourself like 30 stitches backpacking last year, and it healed fine." Wheedling was low, and he knew it, but at the moment X really didn't care.

"I had no choice then. I was friggin' 300 miles from anything, alone. And do you have any idea how much that hurt? I passed out half way through and had to finish an hour later when I came to. It's a miracle my arm didn't get infected, fill up with puss and fall off."

"But it didn't, and what, do you think I can't take a little pain? Just do it! I can't go to the hospital." Now things were getting desperate, not only did doctors ask questions, but he knew for a fact a certain group that was very concerned with his identity was going to be there. Definitely not worth the risk. Demetry just continued to shuffle through coat pockets and the layer of detritus on all the flat surfaces of the place.

"You should probably get the broken ribs checked out too."

"Fine, I'll do it myself." He started to stand to find a needle, but was pushed back down both by gravity and an irate Russian jingling the located keys in front of him.

"You're going." He said with finality. X started to protest again, trying really hard not to sound like a five-year-old, but was cut off. "I may not be all crazy ninja like you, but I think I can take on a cripple." He flexed a fairly sizable bicep to emphasis his point. The thief glared.

"Not that I'm not like, really happy that Raven might be getting better and all, but I am bored out of my mind!" Beast Boy was restlessly wandering around the pristine room being told not to touch anything. Robin was absently playing cards with a fascinated Starfire, and Cyborg was leaning against a wall flipping a rubber reflex testing hammer from one hand to the other. The excitement of the news of their comrade's change in condition had degenerated rapidly when the group soon realized that there really wasn't all that much to do in a hospital room other than watch Raven gently undulate in the air above her bed.

"Gin! Oh Robin I Have triumphed again!" Starfire burst out happily. Robin gave her unenthusiastic congratulations. 'I should have brought a book.' He thought.

"I think I'm gonna go check this place out, a few of those hawt candy striper girls were checkin' _me_ out on the way in." The little imp wagged his eyebrows suggestively and sauntered out of the room.

"16 with the mentality of 12-year-old." Robin shook his head. "Hey Cy, could you-"

"I'm on it." He tossed the small medical hammer back on the countertop and was off to reign in the beast.

"Robin! I have dealt the card afresh, do you wish to begin?"

8

The very blonde sound of giggling girls lead the tall teen to his query. Several young female uniformed volunteers stood in a clump around something green and flickering. Beast Boy was at it again showing off various cute and fuzzy forms to 'impress the ladies' as he put it.

"There has got to be some health code against wombats in a hospital." He reached in and grabbed a green fluffy ear. It rapidly changed into a much smaller pointier version.

"Dude!" Beast Boy squeaked. The girls giggled all the more, a few sending appreciative glances in Cyborg's direction. They quickly sobered under a stern look from their supervisor and regretfully dispersed to tend to their tasks. Cyborg steered Beast Boy back down the hallway.

"Man, do I mess with you when you're hangin' with chicks?"

"I never take you with me so you can't."

"They were totally digging the marsupials too."

"You know, they're laughing at you when you do that, not with you."

"What are you talking about? Of course they're laughing at me, that's my secret, I'm the number one funny man in the city. They ladies love a cute and cuddly comedian. How else do you get a date?"

"Did you ever think just talking to a girl genius?"

Beast Boy stopped for a second and looked puzzled. "Why?"

"You are hopeless, scrawny, green and hopeless."

"And bored! Now what are we supposed to do?"

"I dunno, there's usually a lounge or something in these places."

The two wandered around for a while talking and joking as they tried to find something, anything to do. They were passing a bunch of general examination rooms when they heard a loud angry voice coming from one of them.

"Look, doctor I told you, I don't need an x-ray to tell me there are three cracked ribs on my right side!" The voice was rising in volume like the speaker was trying hard not to get too angry but failing. The two titans stopped and shared identical mischievous looks of 'what else do we have to do?' and immediately scampered into the empty room next door. Cyborg turned his audio sensors way up and Beast Boy pressed a huge bat ear against the adjoining wall.


End file.
